The captains of the sunset wind.

Kalebs Pov

let out a somewhat barking laugh, covering my mouth with my hand. "Bird pirates, huh?" I questioned his antics. First, his fishy friend beats up m-Ry...
I'm embarrassed to say I do think of her as my mother. She took care of me since I was twelve, which is impressive on its own knowing she's only twenty-five. "No... no no," Ry muttered. I tried to catch her eye but Dallas was currently helping pull her to her feet. I didn't want her walking but knowing my mo- Ry, she would be too stubborn to accept help. I took the supply bags instead of worrying about them. I noticed James doing the same, in usual James fashion he hadn't said much. But knowing him as I did, I knew he was sizzling under that cool composure. Ry was his best friend. Without Ry, he'd still be floating somewhere around the Navy.
As we headed towards the ship, Ari landed in front of us with Malachi, one of his usual voices floating around his head. His usually well-done hair was floating and falling in stands over his face. He had a hammer and a nail in his hand. He looked around at everyone individually.
"Captain, what am I doing here? I was fixing the ship... Oh, I forgot to hammer in that one part... The ship is going to become structurally weaker..." His tone quickly devolved into his typical muttering. Malichi, calm down. Mu-Ry... Oh, screw it! I'm calling her mom mentally from now on. Mum placed her hands on Malichi's shaking ones.
"Hey hey, calm it down a bit. We're just setting sail soon, and we have some new friends." Her voice was quiet and gentle, calming even. He nodded, seeming to come back to himself as the ghost-like boy I had now identified as Ryder laughing a little at Malachi's predicament. I watched our three new friends jump at that. "Who- What is that?" Chip pointed, his voice having heightened up at least an octave in confusion. "I'm Ryder." The boy's chittery voice rang out louder than both mum's or Malachi's regular voices, causing Chip to jump back. "Uhm. Hi Ryder...? Whatcha... doing there?"
To this, the boy replied, "Well, I'm always here." He laughed louder than I'd heard anyone else laugh. Malichi muttered to wide-eyed Chip. "He's always there. Always. All the time. Every day." Shaking his head, he put the hammer in his hands to a spot hanging from his belt "I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked. The scary fish man from earlier piped up at this, dwarfing Ryder and his annoying voice. "I am Gillion Tidestrider, and I see this 'Ryder' as someone to vanquish. He is causing you distress." Gillion exclaimed, stepping forward. At this, James drew his blade. Oh, so now he gets involved.
"You touch him and there won't be much left of you." Those were probably the first words I'd heard James say since we left the ship. Gillion gave him a look, then stepped back. The look screamed 'I'm going to pretend I didn't say anything.' James grunted, giving him one last look before sheathing his blade once more. He was always so quick to defend Malichi and any of his voices. It wasn't like they came in a separate deal. You get Malichi, you get all his voices too. We, specifically James and Mailichi, have been together for years. We've found out after so long that if you hurt those voices, you hurt him.
"It was a kind offer." Ari chimed in and noticed the tension in the air. "He knows now, okay? No harm done."
"Yeah, Gil's stupid, but not like that. Nothing bad would have happened, uh, sir?" Chip was talking way too fast. James must have realized he made the situation awkward, to which he grunted again and stepped behind Ry, keeping his eyes trained on Gillion.
"With that out of the way," Chip continued. "I'm Chip. Nice to meet you, Ryder, and...?"
"Malichi." He didn't look directly into Chip's eyes, as much as the pirate tried. "Malichi. Awesome. I see you've met Gillion, a lovely guy by the way. And that stinky woman right there is the incredible Jay Ferin!" He put his arm around Jay, then promptly fell back. Jay punched him in the arm, to which he darted away with a snicker.
With the tension cleared, Ari pumped her fist into the air. "Let's go back to the ship, there's still three.. no, four more people for you to meet." She was bouncing up and down again, something she usually did just before she took off.
We proceeded to follow Ari back to the ship, who kept getting ahead of herself and flying in circles around us. I saw Tia run up to us, her face wrinkled with worry. "Oh dear, Malichi- When Ari grabbed you and flew off we were worried there was a problem. Are you okay?" She grabbed me, Malichi, and James into a big hug. "We're okay-" I tried to squirm out of her grip. "Ry got hurt, and we were going to set sail soon."
"Rea!" Tia released her grip and sauntered up to our captains. "Dear, what on earth happened? Oh goodness, Ari looks even worse!" Tia brushed loose strands of hair out of Ari's face, dusting off her coat and generally cleaning her up. Ari grabbed her wrists gently. "Hey hey, I'm okay! Obviously. But you should've seen it! I totally destroyed that guy!" Gillion gave her a look, and Tia snorted. "Is this the man?" Tia turned away from Ari to face him.
She looked at both of them in turn. "You both look dreadful. I haven't seen Ari this banged up since that run-in with the navy near Canella." She made it sound more like a compliment than an insult, to which Gillion perked up a little. "You have been to Canella as well?"
"Accidentally." Tia frowned. "We sailed too close and they sent their ships after us. Crazy to think that a rebellion started thanks to a few pirates. Whoever caused an uproar really did a number on the Navy." Everyone offered a nod, but our new 'friends' tensed up a bit. "That battle was really fun." Ari bounced to something else like always. "That's where we got James! Isn't that right, buddy?" She nudged James, who softened his eyes a bit. "Yes, captain." He grumbled quietly.
"'Got' him? What, was he in the Navy or something?" Chip spoke up, apparently not knowing when to talk or when not to. James directed his angry expression at him instead of Gil, but surprisingly he stood his ground. This guy... He acts like a fool but I take it he has gone through a lot. "Yeah, he was! How'd you know?" Ari chirped. Chip shrugged. "We might've gone through something similar."
"James," Ry spoke softly, but the burly man still instantly whipped his head to attention. "Can you go with Malichi to prepare the ship for our departure?" He gave a sharp nod and began walking away. Malichi yelped and followed closely. We watched James lumber towards our ship and immediately began to prepare our boat for departure. After a few moments, Ry exhaled. "Sorry about him. He's a bit... protective. I just needed to put some distance between you and his murderous glares."
"Yeah..." Chip's constant snarky smile faded for just a moment, his eyes overcast with an unreadable emotion. He blinked and returned to his normal self. What was that? It looked longing and almost envious, but it was gone before I could get a good reading. "Aren't we also going there?" Jay cocked her head.
"We can visit your ship first!" Ari nodded her head. "If that's okay?"